Spirit of freedom: Journalists inspect the new ‘Freedom’ from LML Ltd on Tuesday in Bangalore. The ‘Freedom’, with a 4-stroke, 110 cc engine, is priced at Rs 40,050 (AFP)

Bangalore, Sept. 3 (PTI): LML, the Kanpur-based two-wheeler company, would invest Rs 125 crore by March 2004 to double its motorcycle manufacturing capacity to six lakh units per annum and create a capacity to produce one lakh gearless scooters, a top company executive said today.

Launching Freedom, its latest 4-stroke, 110 cc motorcycle, for the southern market, LML’s managing director Deepak Kumar Singhania said the company is expecting a turn-around in the second half of the current financial year. The company plans to sell its two-wheelers in Latin America, Europe and parts of south-east Asia, he said, adding, LML has targeted 10 per cent of its sales to come from exports by 2005. It plans to launch two new bikes—100 cc and 125 cc—in the next fiscal, he said.

He said the Rs 125 crore that LML is planning to invest, would be raised from a combination of external commercial borrowing and internal accruals, and a private placement, if need be.